


the eyes are the window to the soul(s)

by RunningRiver



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Fainting, Gen, brief descriptions of injuries, im not good at tags, im so sorry for the angst, this is my first time posting im really not good at tags, very little comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28992000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunningRiver/pseuds/RunningRiver
Summary: Oscar’s eyes always seemed to hold two souls. Two colors. Showing his inner duality. But what happens when his teammates are reminded of a third soul?
Relationships: Oscar Pine & Everyone
Kudos: 31





	the eyes are the window to the soul(s)

**Author's Note:**

> my first fic!  
> tw for brief descriptions of injuries and fainting

Oscar had always had interesting eyes. Brown and green, both and neither, making an entirely different color that caught others attention immediately. 

Yet, for a boy that wanted nothing more than to read his book in peace, attention was the last thing he wanted. 

His aunt, a superstitious woman, said that his eyes meant he was destined for greatness, but also for tragedy. An old story told the tale of eyes that could predict the future. If only one knew how to read them right. 

When he was little, his aunt used to tease him, saying he was her little warrior, with eyes that shone with possibility. After the accident that left her nephew an orphan, she rarely spoke of them. 

Those eyes that held too much knowledge for a boy so young. Those eyes that deserved a childhood. Those eyes that reminded her most of all of his parents.

————————

When Oz first started talking in his head, Oscar was reminded of those tales. He knew he would be more than a farmhand one day, but this? This was too much. 

Once he finally accepted it, he let out a bitter laugh to himself. Or was anything ever to himself these days, with someone else in his head? The boy didn’t know. He supposed he should’ve known with eyes like his. Two colors for two souls. 

He set out for a new life, with two souls in his head, one of which he never asked for. I’ll be back, he promised himself, when deep down he knew he was lying. Even if he did return to his farm, nothing would ever be the same. That he knew for a fact.

————————

People always said Pyrrha’s eyes shone with destiny. Bright green, full of life, and steeled with determination, they were what caught your attention when you met her. Luckily she was used to it. 

While she mastered the art of hiding what she was feeling over the years, she never could hide her expression in her eyes. Those she trusted and grew close to could tell what she was thinking just by looking at them. It’s why Jaune knew what she was about to do that day at beacon right before she shoved him in that pod. 

He was milliseconds too late to stop her. As she walked away, he saw an array of emotion he’d never seen on his friends face before. He could see she was determined. Resigned to the fact that she might not come back. And he saw, clearer than anything, how tired she was of fighting losing battles. 

He would never forget the last time he saw that expression. Little did he know he would see it again, on another’s face. 

————————

“Oscar! Where are you?” Jaune called.

“Jaune, keep your voice down. We don’t know who, or what, is in this whale with us.”

“Sorry, Yang. I know you’re right, I just…” Jaune sighed. 

“Don’t worry,” the third member of their team spoke up. “We’re not leaving here without him. He’s like our brother. I’m sure none of your sisters would leave you if you were in trouble, right? And Yang would never leave Ruby if she needed help.”

“Right! We just have to be smart about it. We’re not leaving him behind, but we also have to make sure we don’t get killed in the process.” 

Jaune nodded. He really did think of Oscar like a brother. No stranger to the bond between siblings, he knew that the boy was a part of their family. Even if it seemed like he doubted it sometimes. 

The little kid’s expression was unreadable occasionally, but other times Jaune knew exactly what his little brother was thinking. He had seen that expression on himself too often. 

The feeling of being expendable, of caring about the people around you so much it hurts, and of knowing you would risk anything if it meant they would be safe. It was too upsetting an expression for someone so young. 

“Okay, splitting up seems like a bad idea. Let’s think about this logically. Any ideas?”

“Well,” Ren started, “It makes sense that Salem would want him close to her, but not in the same room. That way, it’s hard for us to get to him, but she can keep him separate from everyone else on the ship. So… Let’s try that hallway.”

He gestured to the hallway-if it could even be called that-directly in front of them. The entire floating whale looked the same. Fleshy walls, doors made of strange Grimm bone, and no one else in sight.

Yang looked up, her eyes steeled with determination.

“Okay. Let’s go get our brother back.”

————————

“Oscar? Oscar, can you hear me?”

The boy could hear muffled talking. He was confused, and disoriented. Was he moving?

He opened his eyes, the voices becoming clearer as red light seared into his corneas.

“Oscar! Thank goodness you’re awake. We’re gonna get you out of here, buddy.”

Suddenly, the boy could give a name to the voice 

“Jaune?” He croaked, his voice weak.

“It’s okay. Ren and Yang are here with me, and we’re gonna get you out. Do you think you can stand?”

Oscar suddenly became aware of the fact that he was being carried by the older boy. Was he really so weak that he couldn’t stand on his own two feet? He wondered to himself. Slowly, he stood, taking in the scene around him. Ren and Yang were fighting a Grimm while Jaune sat with him. Had they really come all this way for him?

“Jaune, why are you here?”

The blond boy looked at him with a shocked expression. “What?”

“I can do more to help inside this whale than I can do out there. I can turn Salem’s forces against each other from the inside. Not to mention how much time you probably wasted coming to get me. Why did you come?”

Jaune looked at Oscar, the boy he had come to think of as his brother. He took in his bruised face, the way he was holding his side like he was keeping pressure on a wound, and the expression on his face that looked so...familiar. Where had he seen that face before?

“Oscar, we’re not letting you go back. I mean, look at yourself! There’s no way we’re leaving you, not in the condition you’re in.” 

Jaune didn’t realize he was holding back tears until he wasn’t able to hold them back any more.

“I’m not sure how much longer you’ll last in here. And we care about you too much to let you go.”

The boy looked surprised, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Couldn’t he see how much they all cared about him? How they just wanted to protect him?

An entirely new emotion washed over his face, visible in those still-bright eyes. A steely resolve, a determination Jaune was familiar with. It was almost like-

He didn’t have time to finish the thought before Oscar started to limp down the hallway. Desperate, Jaune grabbed his arm to stop him from going any further, and as the boy looked over his shoulder, something clicked. Those eyes so intent on fighting, and tired of losing. It looked exactly like-

“Pyrrha?” Jaune whispered, unable to stop himself.

Oscar frowned. “Who’s Pyrrha?”

Jaunes mouth went dry as he shook his head and tried to clear the image of his fallen teammate from his vision.

“It’s no one. Oscar, we’re not leaving without you.”

Oscar looked back at the team before speaking. “I-”

The kid barely got the word out before his eyes rolled back and he fainted, with Jaune barely able to catch him before he fell to the ground.

“Oscar!” Jaune looked back at his team, the grimm nearly beaten. “We need to go. Now.”

Ren nodded, striking a fatal blow to the beast and clearing their path for escape. The three ran out of the prison-like whale, the fourth cradled in his big brother's arms. Asleep or unconscious, it was impossible to tell. But he was with people who cared about him now, and that meant everything would be okay. Everything was fine as long as they had their family.

————————

“I saw it too.”

Sitting in the hallways of Shnee Manor, Jaune glanced over at Ren, the meaning of his words crashing over him

“The expression on his face when he turned. It looked just like her. That exact look was all over her face that night at Beacon. And he’s only 14.” Ren choked out a sob. “The same face our dead friend gave us the night she died was on a fourteen year olds face while he tried to convince us to leave him behind and let him-“

He couldn’t go on. Couldn’t say the thing they all thought, and the thing they all feared.

“You know,” Jaune said, looking up at his team, “I used to see her everywhere I went.   
I thought I saw her out of the corner of my eye, or that she was crossing the street. But I could never catch up to her. I could never stop her from leaving.” 

Ren looked up, his mouth curving as he started to speak, but he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Klein says you can go in and see him now.”

Whitley, Weiss’s snooty little brother, stood at the end of the long hallway. Except…he didn’t look so snooty anymore. They all stood there staring for a minute before someone interrupted the silence.

“How bad is he?” Jaune asked, prompting the question they were all afraid to ask but desperately wanted the answer to.

“He’s…” Whitley’s voice cracked. “It’s better if you just go in and see him. He’s been asking for you ever since he woke up.”

Jaune nodded, and they all walked towards the room Oscar was staying in, doing their best to prepare themselves for what would be inside…

...But nothing could have prepared them for the sight of the small boy inside.

Covered in bandages, hooked up to an IV and at least half a dozen other machines and monitors, Oscar looked even smaller than he normally did. He was covered in bruises and scratches, and...was that a burn under those bandages on his chest?

Jaune was the first to speak, softer than he’d ever spoken to the boy before. “Oscar?”

————————

Oscar woke up in an unfamiliar bed, in a room he didn’t recognize. He tried to move, but something held his arm back. Was that an IV? He started to speak, but his throat was hoarse and he couldn’t make a sound. 

“Oh good, you’re awake! Here, drink this.”

An unfamiliar voice handed him a glass of water, and he gladly took it.

“Thank you,” he rasped.

The voice chuckled. “You’re very welcome. You gave us all a scare there.”

As his vision came into focus, Oscar could see a man standing next to the bed. His eyes were a turquoise blue, and he had a mustache. A small hat sat atop a mostly bald head. He looked kind, Oscar decided.

“My name is Klein.”

“I’m Oscar. Are my friends here? Can I see them?”

Klein let out another soft laugh. “Not so fast! I’m sure they’d love to see you, but we have to make sure you’re up for visitors. Your injuries took me quite a while to treat, young man, and I don’t want anything to get worse after the way you looked when they brought you here.”

Oscar looked up at Klein again, hoping the look on his face would convince him to let him have visitors. Being a little kid in a group full of people several years older than him had helped him master what Qrow called his “innocent kid face” and-

Wait. Weren’t Klein's eyes blue a minute ago? Why were they red now?

“Um...Mr. Klein, are you okay? I think something happened to your eyes.”

Klein shook his head, saying “It’s nothing, child. Your teammates told me what happened to you on that awful ship, and my eyes change with my mood. It’s a part of my semblance. The thought of anyone wanting to hurt someone as young as you just makes my blood boil. Of course, if I had it my way i would take all you kids and leave you somewhere safe until this all blows over, but unfortunately I don’t think that’s an option anymore.”

Klein took a long look out the window, seemingly lost in thought, before clearing his throat and bringing himself back to the present.

“Right! I’ll get you something to eat, and then we’ll see if you’re up for some visiting hours.”

Oscar wanted to protest, but a hot meal did sound really good right now. He hadn’t eaten anything except that soup down in the slums since before ironwood decided to take control and...well, everything pretty much went downhill from there.

After a lovely helping of homemade Mac n cheese (it tasted just like his aunt’s), Klein proclaimed Oscar ready for visitors. He sent Weiss’s brother to get the team, and they waited a few minutes before the door cracked open and a small voice spoke.

“Oscar?”

Oscar smiled. “Hey, Jaune.”

Jaune stepped further into the room, Ren and Yang trailing shortly behind him.

“Hey, bud.” Jaune started to ruffle Oscar's hair like he normally would, but seemed to stop himself as he took in the full scope of his injuries. His hands fell to his side and he stepped back, his eyes on the floor.

“How are you feeling?” Ren, ever the logical one, asked.

“Well, I’m okay. All things considered, I think I’m doing pretty well.”

“Oscar, I’m so sorry,” Yang asked, speaking to him for the first time since he was taken. “We tried so hard to get to you. If I had had any idea of what she was doing to you-“

“Yang, It’s okay. You couldn’t have know. Plus, I was only gone for what, 6 hours? That’s practically nothing.” Oscar tried to smile, or give a small laugh to reassure them, but he winced from pain in his ribs. 

“You probably have a few broken ribs. Try not to move.”

“Thanks, Klein. I was thinking about partying the night away, but now that you said that, I guess that’s not happening.”

Jaune smiled. “It’s good to know you’re back to being sarcastic, little bud. We’ll give you some space so you can rest.”

“Wait!” 

Jaune frowned and turned around. “Yeah?”

“I just have one question before you go.” Oscar bit his lip and looked down at his hands. “Who’s Pyrrha?”

Jaune sucked in a breath and glanced over at Yang and Ren.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, It’s just that while you were rescuing me you said-“

“No, It’s okay.” Jaune sighed. “You really wanna know who she was?”

Oscar nodded.

Jaune took another look at his friends, and like a telepathic message had passed between them, they all sat down. “Okay. Pyrrha was our teammate at Beacon. Before we met you, me, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha made up team JNPR.”

Frowning, Oscar interjected, “But if she was a part of your team, how come I never met her? What...what happened to her?”

“Well…at the fall of Beacon, Pyrrha was supposed to get the fall maidens powers. She was too late, and Cinder took them instead. Her and I got out, but Oz stayed to fight her. He never came out.

“Later, Pyrrha distracted me and went to fight Cinder. She knew she wouldn’t win, but she wanted to keep us safe as long as she could. She loved us all so much.” Jaune looked around the room, eyes landing on Oscar. “She would’ve liked you. I think you would’ve been friends.”

“Are you kidding? She would have adopted him on sight, no question,” Ren said with a smile.

Oscar smiled weakly. The comment should have made him feel good, but he mostly just felt sick. His head felt hot and the rest of his body felt cold, and his hands were clammy.

“Oscar? Are you okay?” Yang frowned, looking over at the boy in the bed.

“I don’t know. I think...I think something’s...wrong…”

Trailing off, Oscar started to fall asleep. He was dimly aware of voices calling for a doctor, someone saying he was burning up, but he just wanted sleep. He felt like his skin was on fire.

————————

Where am I?

When Oscar opened his eyes, he was standing on the grounds to a school. People were running all around him, but no one seemed to notice him. Probably because he wasn’t actually there. It was more like he was watching something happening, without being a part of it.

Is this a dream?

I’m afraid not. This is a memory.

Oz?

Yes, Oscar. This is a memory of the fall of Beacon. My memory. 

Your memory. You mean this is the night-

Yes. This is the night I died.

Oscar watched as a man in a green suit that he assumed to be Oz ran past with two students. One of them was clearly Jaune, although he was at least a couple years younger than the Jaune that Oscar knew. And the other…

Is that Pyrrha?

Yes.

A girl with fiery red hair and bright green eyes ran with the two. Oscar could clearly see the expression in her eyes. Fear, paired with unwavering determination. Oscar had felt that same expression on his face only hours earlier.

The three ran back into the school, and suddenly the scene changed. They were in some kind of underground room, with two pod-like things in it. One was empty. The other held a girl with brown hair, who was obviously very close to death.

Past-Oz looked at Pyrrha, saying “get to the pods.”

Oz said something that made Jaune stand guard, and then turned to Pyrrha. With a brief discussion and a last look at Jaune, she climbed into the now-open empty pod.

“Are you ready?” Oz asked.

Pyrrha nodded.

“I need to hear you say it”

No

“Yes.”

Some sort of energy began to pass between Pyrrha and the brown-haired girl through the cords on the pods. As Pyrrha yelled out in anguish, Past-Oz turned to Jaune and said “I’m so sorry.”

Then, an arrow struck the girl in the other part straight through the heart. Oscar turned to see a younger Cinder with a bow in her hand.

No!

The energy shot out of the girl and into Cinder, and she was surrounded by a circle of bright flames that blew Jaune backwards.

Past-Oz stopped Pyrrha from running forward and said, “Take Jaune and get out of here. Find Glynda, Ironwood, Qrow, and bring them here right away. The tower cannot fall.” After another brief discussion that left Pyrrha with a hurt look on her face, she ran over to Jaune and they made their escape.

But before she left, she looked back at something near Oscar. Wait, that wasn’t right. She was looking at Oscar. How could she see him?

“Tell them it wasn’t their fault.”

“I-“

“Tell them.”

Oscar nodded, and Pyrrha ran off.

But this time, the scene did not change. The rest of the memory became a hazy blur, save for Oscar again feeling like his skin was on fire. He was jolted awake-

-and found himself back in his room at Shnee manor.

“Oscar, you’re awake! Thank goodness, you were burning up and then you passed out and-are you okay?” Yang stopped talking to look down at Oscar, who was quiet and wouldn’t look up at them

“I saw her.”

Jaune frowned. “Saw who?”

“Pyrrha. I saw Oz’s memory of the night she died. The fall of Beacon. All of it.”

Ren, shocked, walked closer and asked, “Does that mean...did you see Oz die? Did you...see your own death?”

“Only feelings. Feeling like I was burning from the inside out. It was awful. I-“

He was interrupted by a crushing hug, from the person most unlikely to give it.”

“Um, Ren? I really appreciate this, but I still have broken ribs.”

“Right. Sorry.” Ren stood up and wiped tears away from his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I think so, it was just… really strange, y’know?”

Jaune nodded. “I think we should leave you to get some rest now. You really look like you need it.”

“Wait. There’s one more thing I need to tell you. She...spoke to me.”

Everyone blinked, not believing that they heard him correctly. “She talked to you?” Oscar nodded. “How?”

“I don’t know, but she said...To tell you it wasn’t your fault. I think she was trying to tell me not to let you blame yourselves.”

Jaune nodded slowly. “Well...Alright then. We should really let you sleep, Oscar. If you need anything just give us a holler, yeah?”

Oscar nodded as they left. “Thanks.”

They shut the door, and the boy drifted into a, thankfully, dreamless sleep

————————

Later that night, Ren whispered to Jaune, “hey Jaune? Are you awake?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Do you think it was really Pyrrha that spoke to Oscar?” He paused. “I mean, there’s no way, right?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. It does sound like something she’d say though, doesn’t it?”

Ren smiled. “Yeah. It does.”

“Goodnight, Ren.”

“Goodnight, Jaune.”

And that night, they all slept a little bit sounder.

**Author's Note:**

> wow this was longer than I expected  
> thank you to @/mylovelyfools and @/sapphicscarlett on twitter for the insparation for this!  
> I think I messed up the comments so sorry about that, this is my first time posting


End file.
